Angel
by ThatPersonHidingInTheCorner
Summary: Au Solangelo. Will is an FBI agent and Nico is a serial thief. I am planning on rewriting this when I get the time.
1. Chapter 1

**So, I saw this request on pinterest for this story, and I obliged.**

Will rubbed his temples. His mother told him that if he kept rubbing his head, he'd go bald. He personally believed that even if he did go bald, it would be from the stress, not the rubbing.

He was working on his newest case. It wasn't new actually, it was several months old, it was just new to him, and he was stumped. Him. Will Solace, FBI, genius. Stumped. In all 4 years since he'd joined the FBI, he had never been stumped, ever.

It wasn't murders or any thing, it was just a thief. The problem was the sheer _quantity_, both of what he stole, and of how often he stole. Also, the damage he did.

He never hurt anybody. Not in all the places this criminal robbed, in fact, he seemed to go out of his way to make sure that everybody was fine. And even doing all this, he was able to get his prize and any bystanders that happened to be there out of the way enough where he could _explode the building_. Yes. Explode the building, leaving no evidence.

They called this case the Angel case, as in every crime scene, there would always be a smoldering piece of printer paper with, "-Angel" imprinted on it. Sometimes there would be a tiny section of what seemed to be a note left of the charcoal covered slip. So, he was called the Angel. Actually, Will Solace had no idea - NO IDEA - whether it was a boy or a girl. Angel was well known for being a girl's name, but there is such this as phony names, so... The one thing that he did know for sure was that this was a one man job. But other than that, as mentioned previously, no idea.

That was a first, him having no idea. Well, at least now he knew how it felt.

_Yeah, lucky me..._ He thought, clutching his head, suffering from one of many migraines that started around the time that he began working on this case. The last slip of paper had an almost full message on it,

This is like the 30 somethingth message I've

written. Are you even getting them? Well, I

guess the fact that I explode the building may

have something to do with the fact you don't

get them... Whatever. Did you get this one?

-Angel

Will sighed. The so called 'Angel' was ruining his life. He made it sound like he sent other messages. They had tried to keep this as quiet as possible for as long as they could, but news of a serial thief that was stealing from many important places could hardly be shushed. All it took was one person. To make it even harder, this stealer moved so fast and randomly between places so far apart, it made it seem like he could run through shadows or something. The fact that he knew for sure that it was one person was the only thing keeping him from imagining the possibility that it could be many different thieves under one faux name. The way the letter was written made them start to believe that it was male, but they still didn't have definite proof. Whoever it was, they obviously were defiant, seeing as they broke through all the norms with thieves.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been three days since Will last spent hours thinking about that confusing criminal; he finally figured that until more evidence came to light, he wouldn't get any farther.

Well, he got his wish. This time Angel hit so close, it was frustrating. He was walking down the street when it happened. A bank just down the road erupted into an impressive display of flames that reached for the sky. Everyone nearby screamed and ran for their lives, but he knew. How the culprit was able to clear every single person out of so huge a building, he had no idea, but he had to get closer. He sprinted, and as soon as he reached the fire that was quickly dissipating, a sheet of paper flew out from the remains. It was slightly blackened in some areas, but for the most part, seemed fine.

He caught it and narrowed his eyes.

Ahh... so you finally got my message.

So. Small talk. How you doing? Got any

clues as to who I am yet? Probably not,

but hey, never hurts to ask. If this was

a children's game, I think I'd be winning.

-Angel

Well, of course he had no clue, but he wasn't about to tell Angel that. He looked up and what he saw astonished him. Nothing remained of the bank except a huge crater and a few piles of smoldering ash, yet none of the surrounding buildings were any worse than scorched.

A few reporters who had heard the story, and were looking for their big break ran up to him and started asking questions. He contemplated his options before finally decided that maybe if he replied in some way, this 'Angel' would give him a few more clues.

He turned towards the now crowd of reporters and said simply, "Someone would need a guardian _angel_ to protect themselves from who ever is doing this," he said loudly, stretching out the angel.

Once he reached his apartment he realized that he had left the radio on all day. As he was about to turn it off, he paused for a second and listened to the song. It described his feelings at that moment perfectly. **(I'm Coming After You - Owl City)**

The reason he got a job in the FBI, along with the fact that he was a genius when it came to this stuff, was that he could look at the information they had and picture the culprit in his head perfectly. He was almost always right.

This time, the only thing he could picture, he discovered while lying in bed, was this strangers smile. He didn't know them, but he knew enough to understand that they smiled at Will's struggles.

Surprisingly it wasn't an evil smirk. More like the smug laugh of a child who thought he was winning. This was a game, Will realized with a jolt. Needless to say, Will got barely any sleep that night.


	3. Chapter 3

Will worked furiously all day everyday until the next attack, but to no avail. He was still no closer to knowing who the guilty party was. All he had was the smile, but no proof that it was his smile, just a gut feeling, and in the FBI, gut feelings don't count for much. That thief may be incredibly immature, but he sure was good at covering all his footsteps.

The next thievery took place in Montana. It was exactly like the others, and FBI Agent Solace demanded that all evidence be immediately shipped to him for a federal investigation. He found himself hoping that the letter survived. Because of investigatory reasons of course...

It did, and along with many piles of ash, there it was.

Really, guardian angel? You're so stupid

for a genius. Yeah, I saw that. I mean,

I expected a stupid reply, but you

exceeded my expectations. Seriously.

-Angel

He was super offended, as he had no siblings, he had never had been called stupid in his life, and here was the person blowing up banks, insulting him like it was nothing. Child's play. He thought his remark about a guardian angel was pretty clever, but as he looked back at it, he realized that it was quite, well, stupid.

He almost laughed out loud. He just called himself stupid. For a second, Angel seemed like a normal guy, a friend even. He was able to make Will laugh. Yep, a normal guy who just happened to run around stealing millions of dollars and blowing up buildings as a game. The idea made Will smile.

All of his coworkers stared in wonder at Will, wondering how he could be smiling at such a torturous case. As Will rode the bus home, he wondered, why Angel? A girlfriend? Sister? Mother? Angel was obviously a boy - part of Will's picture, a smile and a boy - so, why the girl name? Did it have some special meaning to him, a nickname? There were so many possibilities, and Will didn't care right then, he just wanted to have another note.


	4. Chapter 4

In the next robbery, there was a hospitalization.

A man was trying to get into a bank; his wife forgot her purse in there. He was thrown back in the blast and broke many bones, including two ribs, his leg, and his left wrist. Multiple other bones were fractured.

Will's face was hard, and set in stone when he heard of it. Maybe Angel wasn't as harmless as he previously thought. He examined the evidence, and sure enough, there was a surviving note.

I've seen you waiting for my next

note. You're so impatient. You do

realize that these aren't clues, and

are probably just making your personal

attachment to this case stronger.

-Angel

The thief was right, Will now had a grudge against the cage on a personal level now. He was taking the Subway around New York and he was staring absent mindlessly at a spot on the ground, pondering his situation. He didn't notice another boy walking the same way as him, also glaring at the ground, until the ran into each other.

They mumbled their apologies at the same time, and the boy glanced upward. His hair was raven, his eyes obsidian.

"Hey, aren't you that FBI agent, Solace?"

Will nodded immediately.

"You're investigating the, um... Angel Case, right?"

"Yes, I'm working hard to catch the culprit, and keep you safe."

"Keep me safe... I thought no one was being hurt!"

"There was a recent hospitalization due to this criminal's works." Will repeated what his superiors told him to say to any worried passersby.

The boy looked shocked, terrified even, as if he could get in trouble. Will shook the thought off, and kept walking.


	5. Chapter 5

The next week, all banks prepared for the next attack, knowing that it could be any of them. Angel attacked every 3-5 days, yet after 8 days, there was still no mention of anything of the sort. Agent Solace advised them to keep their guard up, as the criminal was random. By the tenth day, Will was so confused, that he went back to New York to re-examine the crater, to see if he missed anything.

He took the subway again, and there was a man dressed in all black, black jeans, black tennis shoes, and a black hoodie that his hand were stuck into the pockets of. The hood was pulled down so that it completely covered his eyes. The only visible skin on him was his lower face, even his nose was covered. He was clutching a white letter as if it was worth his life. He saw Will and started rushing toward him. Will prepared to defend, but all he did was slap the letter into Will's chest and let Will catch it.

Will caught it, and with wide eyes saw that it was labeled with a simple,

-Angel

He yelled wait and tried to catch up, but the boy was gone, as if he disappeared into the shadows. Will only got a glimpse, but he was sure. The boy had the smile. Angel's smile.

Will held the envelope shakily until he reached his hotel room, as he had no idea what was in it, or if it was dangerous. His hands ripped the letter open, and inside was (he counted it like 5 time) half a million dollars. There was also a note.

I'm sorry. I never meant for anyone to get hurt. Please

make sure that this gets to the man I hurt. I give my

apologies, and would come in person, if I thought there

was a chance that he wouldn't hate me. I am truly sorry,

and I forfeit my own money to make sure he understands that.

-Angel

Will did what the letter asked of him, and gave the money to the injured husband. He spent two hours explaining the the perpetrator didn't want to hurt him, and didn't realize until it was too late. He was breaking all the rules by not keeping the letter and the (stolen) money as evidence, but at that moment, he really didn't care.

The man was still angry with Angel, but he accepted the cash gratefully and was content that for now, even thought his pain-inflicter was not caught, but was sincerely sorry and tried to make up for it.

Will found himself glad that the thief was just a thief, and did not want to harm others. It made it much less likely that someone would get hurt, and gave him more time to solve the case before they started rushing him.


	6. Chapter 6

There were a couple more days until the next explosion. Will was starting to think that maybe Angel still felt bad about the whole injury thing, and was stopping, but all hope of this outcome was crushed once all the buildings of a huge and rich franchise simultaneously exploded that Thursday.

Angel was starting to move faster, and wasn't just targeting banks any longer. It was hard to predict the next area he would hit next before, but now it was impossible.

Will spent hours sifting through the evidence to see if Angel left a note. He did, but it didn't survive, only his signature did. Will felt disappointed. He was hoping to be able see Angel's reaction to the incredibly clever and stupid (but mostly stupid) thing he did that morning.

He faked getting fired from the FBI to see what Angel would say, and how he would react to a new investigator. The phony investigator/actress they had hired was a moron, but all she needed to do was play the part. They dressed her up and taught her what to say, and she was doing great. While she was 'in office' she got to lounge about with the curtains closed and pretty much do what ever she wanted.

Will wished that he could do that while working. He was the one who had to not shave and wear around unprofessional clothing. Will hated not being able to shave. The stubble annoying him all day and sometimes kept him from being able to go about his business.

He still got all the evidence to study, it was just kept in a pizza box in case Angel was watching. He tried to act as someone who was unemployed, but he hadn't been unemployed since he was 17, nine years ago, when he was hired in the FBI. Yes, he was a bit young, but he was experienced. In his hometown, he was the unofficial investigation department. He had been solving little crimes since he was a toddler. It seemed only natural to join the FBI. He actually had to ask advice from his lazy friend, Percy. They didn't talk much any more, but Percy had become less lethargic over time, thought he was still the master as remaining idle while supposedly, working.

Percy advised him to just act like he doesn't care anymore. It was very hard, but Will was somehow able to pull it off.

Meanwhile, Angel had blitzed him way through two banks and a company in a period of 7 days.

I heard you got fired. It can't be true.

I chose you specifically to make sure this

case got to because you were the BEST.

Why would they ever fire you?

-Angel

Will was surprised that Angel would care so much, it was like he had a personal attachment to Will, and Will's ability to work the case. But Agent Solace kept faking it, acting like he hadn't see anything, and that he didn't care.

But his thoughts kept straying back to Angel's note, wondering if Angel did indeed have a connection to him. If so, why would he torture Will so? Will was never a bully, and at his worst, he was cranky, but that was rare. Why toy with him, of all people?


	7. Chapter 7

If the FBI thought that there were a lot of attacks before, boy, they hadn't seen Angel when Will lost his job. There were attacks once a day, sometimes twice or even three time, and this went on for several weeks. The country was down by billions of dollars. Each, and every attack kept a letter where Angel pleaded and begged Will to show a sign that he was getting this. But Will refused to show through. The stubble was killing him.

On the last attack attack of all the ambushes, Angel left a very short note, consisting of a demand and a threat.

Give him his job back, or I will

not care if people get hurt.

-Angel

It caught the FBI off guard, and it scared them. As soon as Will ordered and got his 'pizza', he straightened up and shaved. That was the first thing he did, and what he thought was most important.

It startled Will that Angel would care so much about him. He was terrified, no doubt, of the threat. Do you know how many people are in banks and companies at a given time? That be thousands dead, in just one attack. But some, very strange part of him felt touched that Angel cared so much.

Yeah, to find that part though, you'd have to dig deep. Like real deep.

That day, Will strode back to work with his head up high. All his coworkers stared at him, they thought he was actually fired, as they didn't want it to leak. Three people knew. Will himself, his boss, and the actress, though Will doubted that she understood a word they said.


	8. Chapter 8

By this time, there were only so many money full buildings left, and since the majority were in New York, along with the fact that the last time Will communicated with Angel personally was there, Will decided to take a visit to the big apple.

After contemplating for a few minutes, he decided that the subway would be his best bet. It was to his surprised that he saw his old friend, mentioned before, Percy with his high school sweetheart, Annabeth. Annabeth was huge, as she was 7 1/2 months pregnant with their first child. She had to waddle to get around, but she was still dangerous, so don't you dare laugh at her (end quote).

"Hi Perce! I thought you guys moved down South?" Will asked as him and Percy did that weird bro hug. Annabeth rolled her eyes and gave Will a hug also, Will being sure not to squeeze too tight.

"We're visiting Sally, I wanted her cookies." Annabeth said with a hungry glint in her eyes.

Will jumped back when he saw something shift uncomfortably behind her. "Who's that?" he asked warily.

"Oh, him?" Percy asked dragging a boy out from behind Annabeth. Will nodded. "This is my cousin, Nico."

He looked down, his rugged hair covering his eyes. His hands were shoved in his pockets, and he was avoiding eye contact. He made the mistake of glancing up at Will for a second, and Will could recognize those obsidian eyes anywhere.

"Hey, you're that kid who was worried about the thief I'm hunting!" Will said rather loudly.

Nico glared at him but backed away and looked down again.

"Worried? Nico?" Percy guffawed, "Nico's never worried about anything! He barely cares about anything!"

Will scrunched his eyes together in confusion but back off. "I got to get back to work."

He walked around for the rest of the day, hours, but he didn't see any sign of Angel.


	9. Chapter 9

The FBI sent Will on a trip to where he thought the next attack would take place. He had no idea where it would be, but he took a random guess, and by chance, he was correct.

He knew as soon as he walked into the bank he'd chosen, which was supposed to be open and crowded with employees, and it was silent. Like, dead silent. There was absolutely no one. Not even a janitor. Will whirled around in attempt to get out before it was too late, but the explosion had already started. His vision clouded with red, and it felt like his body was being torn to pieces. That was the last thing he remembered before he blacked out.

He wasn't unconscious though, it was more like a dream. Sleep paralysis. In the dream, someone was laughing wildly. Another voice came out and quieted that voice. It was the voice of Nico. It pleaded for him to wake up, begged even. He sounded so worried and so frightened, that Will wanted to reach out and comfort him, but Will couldn't move. Then Will started to think, _Why would Nico care about me? According to Percy, Nico doesn't care about anyone or anything..._

It was at that point that Will woke up, and forgot it all.

His boss was standing next to him.

"We are very sorry that this happened to you, Agent Solace, you were one of our best. We can have someone else take care of this case while you recover," His superior recited as they saw he was stirring.

Will shook his head multiple times, "No... no... no! I- I need... need to-" Will moaned, rubbing all his sore body parts, which was a lot.

"What you need is rest." His boss replied strictly.

"No!" He grabbed his chief's wrist, seeing he was going to walk away. The tone of Will's voice made his boss pause a second.

"Will you let your emotions get in the way of solving this case, Mr. Solace?" the head of his department asked professionally, yanking his wrist out of Will's grip.

Will saluted, "No sir, I'm not- I mean, I won't." He said firmly.

"Good."

Will drifted back into an empty sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

Will felt something sharp pierce his skin. He let out a weak protest, and tried to pull away, but the person gripping his arm held fast.

"Calm down. It's just a mild paralytic. It won't hurt you. Just give me time to explain."

Will's eyes shot open, riddled with fear. The person he saw wasn't his doctors or a nurse, it was the man from the subway, who gave him the note. Angel. He was inserting a small needle into Will's forearm. Will tried to move to push him away, but soon found that he couldn't move anything, not even his lips. All he could do was move and blink his eyes. He glared at Angel and Angel had the nerve to start chuckling. Chuckling! He was in the same outfit as before, the only difference was that he was wearing black sweatpants instead of black jeans.

Will recognized his voice, but couldn't pinpoint it, as if he was using a different tone then before or something.

"Anyway, so I had _everyone_ cleared out, and no one was going to get hurt, but then you. You _had_ to walk in there at the last second and ruin _everything. Thanks _for that, by the way."

Will stared at Angel in wonder. He thought it was Will's fault?

Angel continued, "yeah yeah, you think it's my fault for exploding the building, but think of this: I could killed hundreds of people, and all it would've taken was _less_ effort, so technically, I saved all those people's lives. Even though I was the one to put them in danger in the first place I guess... Still..."

Angel rambled on like that for at least an hour, and at some point, Will realized that the so called, 'mild paralytic' was started to wear off. It started as twitching his nose while Angel wasn't looking, then wiggling his fingers or toes. He realized that he could finally move completely, and waited. he calmly rested and sat through all itches he had until he saw an opening.

Angel had turned around. Will quickly, like he had practiced in his head, reached out and pulled Angel's hood down to his shoulder. He heard a satisfying gasp, but instead of running for the door like Will had expected, and hoped, Angel darted to the window and started fiddling with the lock. Will got out of bed shakily, being paralyzed seems to do that to you, and headed towards Angel. As soon as Will reached him, Angel tore through the screen, and took the jump, from the 6th floor. 75 feet up. Will just barely missed grabbing Angel's hoodie, and stared in wonder at how Angel just stood right back up after that bad of a fall. As Angel sprinted away so fast that the Olympic Contestants would be jealous, Will saw a familiar mop of raven hair right before Angel yanked the hood up and kept running.

Will spent hours trying to remember where he knew the hair from, but it was no help.


	11. Chapter 11

That weekend, Will bumped into Percy again. He seemed to do that a lot these days.

Nico was with Percy again. Apparently he'd just gone a terrible experience and was suffering from PTSD, he couldn't be trusted on his own. Will demanded that they be introduced formally. He yanked Nico's hand out from his hoodie pocket and shook it firmly. He turned it over, feeling that Nico's palm was suspiciously rough. It was littered with cuts, bruises, and scrapes. He gasped and Nico refused to look him in the eye.

Percy and Will both demanded to know where he had gotten hurt, and how. Nico shook his head multiple times. they gotten closer and louder until Nico snapped, and said the first words since his and Will's first conversation.

"It doesn't matter!" He yelled and stormed off, leaving the two older boys in the dust.

Percy was even more shocked than Will, "those were the first words I'd heard him say since..."

Percy drifted off, and he didn't have to finish. Since Nico's personal Tartarus.

Will was the first to regain his confidence. "Don't worry, I'll find him for you. I just need a picture, and soon all the police in New York will be notified."

Percy shook off all his thoughts and dug around in his wallet before pulling out a picture of him, Nico, a blonde guy, an African-American girl, a girl with dark, choppy hair, and who looked like an older version of Nico, except a girl. Her long black hair was in a tight braid. He handed it to Will and said, "Take care of this, please, it's the only picture I have of all my cousins..."

Will nodded and headed off towards the nearest airport to catch the next flight to the FBI headquarters.

He was about to put out the picture of Nico when his boss walked in. He looked up and down the photo and the Nico circled in red.

"Caught our culprit?" he asked innocently.

Will was about to reply negatively, except that it was at that moment the his stupid brain made all the connections. The scraped up hands; Angel jumping out of a 6 story building. Himself telling Nico about the hospitalization; Angel feeling bad and acting on it just a few days later. It even explained why he had a personal connection to Will.

"Yes," Will said, surprising even himself.

"Very well. All government officials in the country will be on the look out for him."


	12. Chapter 12

This time, Percy tracked down Will. He pushed him against a wall, his forearm at Will's throat.

"How dare you put out that Nico is a serial thief? How could you do that?" He was filled to the brim with anger, but once he looked at Will's terrified expression, all the anger leaked out and was replaced by sadness and shame. He put his face in his hands. "You really think it's him?"

Will was sympathetic. "I just need to talk to him. That's all."

Percy looked up, "What do you need to know?"

"Only things that he could tell us."

"Try me."

Will sighed, "well... for one, does the name 'Angel' have any significance to him?"

Percy looked shocked, as if he couldn't believe that he didn't realize it before. "Nico di Angelo. That's his full name. It literally means, 'Nico the Angel'." He groaned and stuffed his face into his arms again. There was a muffled, "this doesn't help his chances, does it?"

Will grimaced and patted Percy's back. "Do you know where he is now?"

Percy looked like he was about shake his head, still buried in his arms, but he hesitated. He looked Will in the eyes and mumbled something Will couldn't understand.

"What?"

Percy looked away and sighed, "DOA Recording Studies in Los Angeles. It's where he goes what he's angry, sad, or just needs to be alone."

Will thanked Percy graciously.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. It's not like I just betrayed my cousin or anything..." said Percy turning away from Will.

Will called his boss to explain that he had discovered the hideout of the culprit and he was on his way now.


	13. Chapter 13

Will walked straight in to Angel's base without any backup or even a plan.

He saw Nico, standing facing the other way, singing a song softly in... Italian? Apparently, either he didn't hear Will, or he just decided not to care. Will hoped it was the first choice, as there was no way he could outrun the younger boy.

Will wrapped his arms around Nico, he wouldn't be able to hold on tight enough without all his muscles. So matter how shrimpy this kid was, he still had a surprising amount of strength.

"Percy. I don't like physical contact," Will realized that Nico's eyes were squeezed shut. He leaned down, and whispered in Nico's ear,

"Not Percy."

Nico's eyes flew open and he whirled around as fast as he could, but it was too late. Will had all ready managed to get the cuffs on Nico without his noticing. The previously thought, 'Angel' glared at him and then grinned like a maniac. He laughed wildly and spun around again, 360 degrees. Will lost his grip on the cuffs, and nearly got whacked in the head as Nico raised his arms in attack. Thankfully, he ducked in time, but Nico swept his feet off the ground.

Nico ran to the nearest wall. Will was in too much shock o react. Nico turned one last time, and winked, still grinning, before melting into the shadows.

* * *

Once the FBI, Will explained to them what happened. Not a moment more than when they reached headquarters, than another building exploded. The note this time read:

This is my last attack. You will find all the money I stole

buried under the remains of the building. I just wanted

to let you know, that you were the fastest on to figure

out it was me. It took all the others many months, some

times years to decide it was me. It took you little over a

month. So, um, good job... I guess... Have a nice life.

I actually liked you this time... that's a first...

-Angel

Angel was true to his word. the found all the money that had been 'stolen' buried under the craters, along with enough extra to rebuild everything.

Will found himself missing the notes from Angel, or Nico. He was also curious about how Angel called him the fastest. He looked into it, and apparently, dozens of other countries had attacks exactly like the ones the USA experiences. They had all discovered who it was, but were marked as INCOMPLETE because the perpetrator evaded the police multiple times until they just gave up.

They had a picture in each of the files, and sure enough it was Nico.


End file.
